New Policy: APS school board adopts all-day ban on student phone use, makes one exception

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:At Yorktown they are allowed to use them in a quiet spot in the library. DD tells me she doesn’t have time during the day to go to said spot. So if she needs to get us a message I guess she does it while going to the bathroom.

But schedule changes happen all the time in high school. Something was cancelled today so I didn’t have to pick her up from school. She rode the bus. Nice to get that message so I didn’t have to rush to leave the office at 4 to pick her up.

She can email you. She has access to email from her laptop. If she doesn't have a non-APS email account, perhaps you should look into one.

Unfortunately email isn't the best way to reach people when you need to see a message quickly. If my HS students emails me, I may not see it for hours. And even if I do and email them back, there is NO way they will see it. How could they? They would have to keep going into their gmail - during class time - to see if I responded yet, and sift through the hundreds of spam emails they get from colleges.

Urgent notifications are what texts are for.

Why is it urgent? Lets say they told you that practice was canceled and needed a ride home. He will be out side waiting. What else is he going to do? AND he will have a phone. You got the message, so you will be there. Or someone else because you arranged a ride -- you can text him and he will see it end of day and find ride.

How old are you that you are so impatient with messages for no good reason?

Maybe you sit around all day with nothing to do but some of us need some advance notice if a pickup time changes.

If pickup time has been made earlier, your kid will wait or find another way home.
If it's a group activity that's been cancelled or lets out early, your kid can wait or have a system in place for them to contact someone else who can get to them faster or to catch a ride with a fellow student in the group.
If pickup time is later, seems like you would have time to arrange for that.

Or....let the kids make an occasional text between classes. All of these gymnastics to force something with no value.

+ 1. Wait until nasty poster's kid gets stuck at school for hours, I bet they will have something to say about that!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At Yorktown they are allowed to use them in a quiet spot in the library. DD tells me she doesn’t have time during the day to go to said spot. So if she needs to get us a message I guess she does it while going to the bathroom.

But schedule changes happen all the time in high school. Something was cancelled today so I didn’t have to pick her up from school. She rode the bus. Nice to get that message so I didn’t have to rush to leave the office at 4 to pick her up.

She can email you. She has access to email from her laptop. If she doesn't have a non-APS email account, perhaps you should look into one.

Unfortunately email isn't the best way to reach people when you need to see a message quickly. If my HS students emails me, I may not see it for hours. And even if I do and email them back, there is NO way they will see it. How could they? They would have to keep going into their gmail - during class time - to see if I responded yet, and sift through the hundreds of spam emails they get from colleges.

Urgent notifications are what texts are for.

Why is it urgent? Lets say they told you that practice was canceled and needed a ride home. He will be out side waiting. What else is he going to do? AND he will have a phone. You got the message, so you will be there. Or someone else because you arranged a ride -- you can text him and he will see it end of day and find ride.

How old are you that you are so impatient with messages for no good reason?

Maybe you sit around all day with nothing to do but some of us need some advance notice if a pickup time changes.

If pickup time has been made earlier, your kid will wait or find another way home.
If it's a group activity that's been cancelled or lets out early, your kid can wait or have a system in place for them to contact someone else who can get to them faster or to catch a ride with a fellow student in the group.
If pickup time is later, seems like you would have time to arrange for that.

Or....let the kids make an occasional text between classes. All of these gymnastics to force something with no value.

+ 1. Wait until nasty poster's kid gets stuck at school for hours, I bet they will have something to say about that!

Assuming you are referring to me as "nasty poster," my kid has called/texted after school hours when something is cancelled or ends early - and waited until I or someone else can get there. They have also occasionally taken it upon themselves to choose the hour walk home. There are more instances of ME wanting to get word to THEM about an early pick-up/don't take the bus home than the other way around.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At Yorktown they are allowed to use them in a quiet spot in the library. DD tells me she doesn’t have time during the day to go to said spot. So if she needs to get us a message I guess she does it while going to the bathroom.

But schedule changes happen all the time in high school. Something was cancelled today so I didn’t have to pick her up from school. She rode the bus. Nice to get that message so I didn’t have to rush to leave the office at 4 to pick her up.

She can email you. She has access to email from her laptop. If she doesn't have a non-APS email account, perhaps you should look into one.

Unfortunately email isn't the best way to reach people when you need to see a message quickly. If my HS students emails me, I may not see it for hours. And even if I do and email them back, there is NO way they will see it. How could they? They would have to keep going into their gmail - during class time - to see if I responded yet, and sift through the hundreds of spam emails they get from colleges.

Urgent notifications are what texts are for.

Why is it urgent? Lets say they told you that practice was canceled and needed a ride home. He will be out side waiting. What else is he going to do? AND he will have a phone. You got the message, so you will be there. Or someone else because you arranged a ride -- you can text him and he will see it end of day and find ride.

How old are you that you are so impatient with messages for no good reason?

Maybe you sit around all day with nothing to do but some of us need some advance notice if a pickup time changes.

If pickup time has been made earlier, your kid will wait or find another way home.
If it's a group activity that's been cancelled or lets out early, your kid can wait or have a system in place for them to contact someone else who can get to them faster or to catch a ride with a fellow student in the group.
If pickup time is later, seems like you would have time to arrange for that.

Or....let the kids make an occasional text between classes. All of these gymnastics to force something with no value.

Fine with me. I'm willing to compromise on that. But I'm also willing to support no phones between classes. That's fine with me, too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At Yorktown they are allowed to use them in a quiet spot in the library. DD tells me she doesn’t have time during the day to go to said spot. So if she needs to get us a message I guess she does it while going to the bathroom.

But schedule changes happen all the time in high school. Something was cancelled today so I didn’t have to pick her up from school. She rode the bus. Nice to get that message so I didn’t have to rush to leave the office at 4 to pick her up.

She can email you. She has access to email from her laptop. If she doesn't have a non-APS email account, perhaps you should look into one.

Unfortunately email isn't the best way to reach people when you need to see a message quickly. If my HS students emails me, I may not see it for hours. And even if I do and email them back, there is NO way they will see it. How could they? They would have to keep going into their gmail - during class time - to see if I responded yet, and sift through the hundreds of spam emails they get from colleges.

Urgent notifications are what texts are for.

Why is it urgent? Lets say they told you that practice was canceled and needed a ride home. He will be out side waiting. What else is he going to do? AND he will have a phone. You got the message, so you will be there. Or someone else because you arranged a ride -- you can text him and he will see it end of day and find ride.

How old are you that you are so impatient with messages for no good reason?

Maybe you sit around all day with nothing to do but some of us need some advance notice if a pickup time changes.

If pickup time has been made earlier, your kid will wait or find another way home.
If it's a group activity that's been cancelled or lets out early, your kid can wait or have a system in place for them to contact someone else who can get to them faster or to catch a ride with a fellow student in the group.
If pickup time is later, seems like you would have time to arrange for that.

How can you be so sure my kid will find another way home? How will they do that exactly? ARe you volunteering? And maybe it's not a problem for YOU if my kid waits for hours to be picked up, but it's a problem for my kid and for me.

I empathize. It must be extremely difficult living your life unable to resolve challenges.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a real-life HS student (not a 3rd grader) at a school where phones are officially banned. Kids still use them sparingly and the teachers generally overlook it.

I got a quick text this morning (between classes) saying that an after-school activity is cancelled, which is helpful for me to receive now so I can rearrange my schedule to pick the kid up several hours earlier.

If kid told me this at 2:30 it'd be a huge PITA.

Are the nasty PPs really so unimaginative that they can't think of [i]any[/] scenarios when phones would be helpful? GMAFB.

Okay, I actually would be okay with kids having flip phones.

We can get Tello with 500 text a month for $5, a flip phone is like what $50? Maybe it would eh cheaper just to issue every student a school flip phone rather than pouch?

But that would probably be fine.

1 minute text on smart phone vs 1 minute text on flip phone. No difference.

I have a bridge to sell you if you all think that kids will limit their phone usage to “1-minute texts to parents.”

If they are shuffling between classes in a massive building there really isn’t that much time. You clearly don’t have HS kids in APS.

Anyway, some whiny poster was asking for “just one reason” why kids might need their phones between classes. I gave one.

I support teachers who want to ban phones in their classroom, but I’m glad that my kid’s teachers aren’t so rigid; they are ok with kids sending a text every now and then between classes.

Actually, I'm that person and I asked why it was so critical - not why they might use it.
To explain what I mean by critical: so essential that the need cannot be met by another means.

No one has found another mode that replaces it

No, nobody has found a mode that equals its efficiency or sufficiently replaces it to your satisfaction. It seems very fortunate for you that you have not had to be a parent (or apparently a kid, either) in the time before cell phones since you seem incapable of anything less quick or convenient. These may be difficult times for you until your kid(s) are no longer in a school with a phone ban. I hope you can take comfort knowing it won't be forever and that there are indeed ways to survive it.

I hope you take satisfaction in making my and many other kids and families lives a lot more difficult. For what?

For the overall betterment of everyone else. I'm sorry you're not more creative or resourceful and able to handle it better.

That is the problem, it's not for the overall betterment of everyone. That's your opinion, that's not reality. Reality is that it is making things a lot worse, and not better.

That does not seem to be the consensus so far. Perhaps you're at a school that just started the bell to bell policy. We're at Wakefield where we've been under the pouch program since October. Other than initial whining from students not liking being treated like a toddler and anxious parents along with their children parroting their parents' anxieties, it seems everyone has generally settled into it all. Even if that means kids are skirting the rules with fake phones. Obviously they have been better able to find a way to manage the situation than the whiny parents on here who can't figure out how to set email notifications or take 60 seconds to check their email throughout the day (like they want their kids to be able to use their phone at school), or have back-up emergency contacts, or haven't been able to find a buddy on their kids' team who can help out, or whatever.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a real-life HS student (not a 3rd grader) at a school where phones are officially banned. Kids still use them sparingly and the teachers generally overlook it.

I got a quick text this morning (between classes) saying that an after-school activity is cancelled, which is helpful for me to receive now so I can rearrange my schedule to pick the kid up several hours earlier.

If kid told me this at 2:30 it'd be a huge PITA.

Are the nasty PPs really so unimaginative that they can't think of [i]any[/] scenarios when phones would be helpful? GMAFB.

Okay, I actually would be okay with kids having flip phones.

We can get Tello with 500 text a month for $5, a flip phone is like what $50? Maybe it would eh cheaper just to issue every student a school flip phone rather than pouch?

But that would probably be fine.

1 minute text on smart phone vs 1 minute text on flip phone. No difference.

I have a bridge to sell you if you all think that kids will limit their phone usage to “1-minute texts to parents.”

If they are shuffling between classes in a massive building there really isn’t that much time. You clearly don’t have HS kids in APS.

Anyway, some whiny poster was asking for “just one reason” why kids might need their phones between classes. I gave one.

I support teachers who want to ban phones in their classroom, but I’m glad that my kid’s teachers aren’t so rigid; they are ok with kids sending a text every now and then between classes.

Actually, I'm that person and I asked why it was so critical - not why they might use it.
To explain what I mean by critical: so essential that the need cannot be met by another means.

No one has found another mode that replaces it

No, nobody has found a mode that equals its efficiency or sufficiently replaces it to your satisfaction. It seems very fortunate for you that you have not had to be a parent (or apparently a kid, either) in the time before cell phones since you seem incapable of anything less quick or convenient. These may be difficult times for you until your kid(s) are no longer in a school with a phone ban. I hope you can take comfort knowing it won't be forever and that there are indeed ways to survive it.

I hope you take satisfaction in making my and many other kids and families lives a lot more difficult. For what?

For the overall betterment of everyone else. I'm sorry you're not more creative or resourceful and able to handle it better.

I'm sorry you're so irrationally triggered by cell phones.

I'm actually not triggered by cell phones at all. So don't worry about it.
I didn't create the policy. I didn't engage in advocating for the policy.
I'm just not constantly attached to my cell phone 24/7 and have not made my entire life utterly dependent upon it. You know what happens on the rare occasions my kid texts for an earlier-than-expected pick-up and I don't see the text right away because I'm not tethered to it? She calls me, I answer the phone, she waits a little while until I can get there to pick her up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At Yorktown they are allowed to use them in a quiet spot in the library. DD tells me she doesn’t have time during the day to go to said spot. So if she needs to get us a message I guess she does it while going to the bathroom.

But schedule changes happen all the time in high school. Something was cancelled today so I didn’t have to pick her up from school. She rode the bus. Nice to get that message so I didn’t have to rush to leave the office at 4 to pick her up.

She can email you. She has access to email from her laptop. If she doesn't have a non-APS email account, perhaps you should look into one.

Unfortunately email isn't the best way to reach people when you need to see a message quickly. If my HS students emails me, I may not see it for hours. And even if I do and email them back, there is NO way they will see it. How could they? They would have to keep going into their gmail - during class time - to see if I responded yet, and sift through the hundreds of spam emails they get from colleges.

Urgent notifications are what texts are for.

Why is it urgent? Lets say they told you that practice was canceled and needed a ride home. He will be out side waiting. What else is he going to do? AND he will have a phone. You got the message, so you will be there. Or someone else because you arranged a ride -- you can text him and he will see it end of day and find ride.

How old are you that you are so impatient with messages for no good reason?

Maybe you sit around all day with nothing to do but some of us need some advance notice if a pickup time changes.

If pickup time has been made earlier, your kid will wait or find another way home.
If it's a group activity that's been cancelled or lets out early, your kid can wait or have a system in place for them to contact someone else who can get to them faster or to catch a ride with a fellow student in the group.
If pickup time is later, seems like you would have time to arrange for that.

How can you be so sure my kid will find another way home? How will they do that exactly? ARe you volunteering? And maybe it's not a problem for YOU if my kid waits for hours to be picked up, but it's a problem for my kid and for me.

I empathize. It must be extremely difficult living your life unable to resolve challenges.

It is difficult living my life when nasty people like you make it more difficult because of your uninformed moral outrage.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a real-life HS student (not a 3rd grader) at a school where phones are officially banned. Kids still use them sparingly and the teachers generally overlook it.

I got a quick text this morning (between classes) saying that an after-school activity is cancelled, which is helpful for me to receive now so I can rearrange my schedule to pick the kid up several hours earlier.

If kid told me this at 2:30 it'd be a huge PITA.

Are the nasty PPs really so unimaginative that they can't think of [i]any[/] scenarios when phones would be helpful? GMAFB.

Okay, I actually would be okay with kids having flip phones.

We can get Tello with 500 text a month for $5, a flip phone is like what $50? Maybe it would eh cheaper just to issue every student a school flip phone rather than pouch?

But that would probably be fine.

1 minute text on smart phone vs 1 minute text on flip phone. No difference.

I have a bridge to sell you if you all think that kids will limit their phone usage to “1-minute texts to parents.”

If they are shuffling between classes in a massive building there really isn’t that much time. You clearly don’t have HS kids in APS.

Anyway, some whiny poster was asking for “just one reason” why kids might need their phones between classes. I gave one.

I support teachers who want to ban phones in their classroom, but I’m glad that my kid’s teachers aren’t so rigid; they are ok with kids sending a text every now and then between classes.

Actually, I'm that person and I asked why it was so critical - not why they might use it.
To explain what I mean by critical: so essential that the need cannot be met by another means.

No one has found another mode that replaces it

No, nobody has found a mode that equals its efficiency or sufficiently replaces it to your satisfaction. It seems very fortunate for you that you have not had to be a parent (or apparently a kid, either) in the time before cell phones since you seem incapable of anything less quick or convenient. These may be difficult times for you until your kid(s) are no longer in a school with a phone ban. I hope you can take comfort knowing it won't be forever and that there are indeed ways to survive it.

I hope you take satisfaction in making my and many other kids and families lives a lot more difficult. For what?

For the overall betterment of everyone else. I'm sorry you're not more creative or resourceful and able to handle it better.

I'm sorry you're so irrationally triggered by cell phones.

I'm actually not triggered by cell phones at all. So don't worry about it.
I didn't create the policy. I didn't engage in advocating for the policy.
I'm just not constantly attached to my cell phone 24/7 and have not made my entire life utterly dependent upon it. You know what happens on the rare occasions my kid texts for an earlier-than-expected pick-up and I don't see the text right away because I'm not tethered to it? She calls me, I answer the phone, she waits a little while until I can get there to pick her up.

Funny how you claim you're not attached to your cell phone, but you've been on DCUM constantly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At Yorktown they are allowed to use them in a quiet spot in the library. DD tells me she doesn’t have time during the day to go to said spot. So if she needs to get us a message I guess she does it while going to the bathroom.

But schedule changes happen all the time in high school. Something was cancelled today so I didn’t have to pick her up from school. She rode the bus. Nice to get that message so I didn’t have to rush to leave the office at 4 to pick her up.

She can email you. She has access to email from her laptop. If she doesn't have a non-APS email account, perhaps you should look into one.

Unfortunately email isn't the best way to reach people when you need to see a message quickly. If my HS students emails me, I may not see it for hours. And even if I do and email them back, there is NO way they will see it. How could they? They would have to keep going into their gmail - during class time - to see if I responded yet, and sift through the hundreds of spam emails they get from colleges.

Urgent notifications are what texts are for.

Why is it urgent? Lets say they told you that practice was canceled and needed a ride home. He will be out side waiting. What else is he going to do? AND he will have a phone. You got the message, so you will be there. Or someone else because you arranged a ride -- you can text him and he will see it end of day and find ride.

How old are you that you are so impatient with messages for no good reason?

Maybe you sit around all day with nothing to do but some of us need some advance notice if a pickup time changes.

If pickup time has been made earlier, your kid will wait or find another way home.
If it's a group activity that's been cancelled or lets out early, your kid can wait or have a system in place for them to contact someone else who can get to them faster or to catch a ride with a fellow student in the group.
If pickup time is later, seems like you would have time to arrange for that.

Or....let the kids make an occasional text between classes. All of these gymnastics to force something with no value.

+ 1. Wait until nasty poster's kid gets stuck at school for hours, I bet they will have something to say about that!

We live in Arlington. A high schooler can take a county bus from any of the high schools to about any neighborhood within an hour.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At Yorktown they are allowed to use them in a quiet spot in the library. DD tells me she doesn’t have time during the day to go to said spot. So if she needs to get us a message I guess she does it while going to the bathroom.

But schedule changes happen all the time in high school. Something was cancelled today so I didn’t have to pick her up from school. She rode the bus. Nice to get that message so I didn’t have to rush to leave the office at 4 to pick her up.

She can email you. She has access to email from her laptop. If she doesn't have a non-APS email account, perhaps you should look into one.

Unfortunately email isn't the best way to reach people when you need to see a message quickly. If my HS students emails me, I may not see it for hours. And even if I do and email them back, there is NO way they will see it. How could they? They would have to keep going into their gmail - during class time - to see if I responded yet, and sift through the hundreds of spam emails they get from colleges.

Urgent notifications are what texts are for.

Why is it urgent? Lets say they told you that practice was canceled and needed a ride home. He will be out side waiting. What else is he going to do? AND he will have a phone. You got the message, so you will be there. Or someone else because you arranged a ride -- you can text him and he will see it end of day and find ride.

How old are you that you are so impatient with messages for no good reason?

Maybe you sit around all day with nothing to do but some of us need some advance notice if a pickup time changes.

If pickup time has been made earlier, your kid will wait or find another way home.
If it's a group activity that's been cancelled or lets out early, your kid can wait or have a system in place for them to contact someone else who can get to them faster or to catch a ride with a fellow student in the group.
If pickup time is later, seems like you would have time to arrange for that.

How can you be so sure my kid will find another way home? How will they do that exactly? ARe you volunteering? And maybe it's not a problem for YOU if my kid waits for hours to be picked up, but it's a problem for my kid and for me.

I empathize. It must be extremely difficult living your life unable to resolve challenges.

I feel for your kid, they clearly need some help learning how to use today's tech, and you are not the person to do it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At Yorktown they are allowed to use them in a quiet spot in the library. DD tells me she doesn’t have time during the day to go to said spot. So if she needs to get us a message I guess she does it while going to the bathroom.

But schedule changes happen all the time in high school. Something was cancelled today so I didn’t have to pick her up from school. She rode the bus. Nice to get that message so I didn’t have to rush to leave the office at 4 to pick her up.

She can email you. She has access to email from her laptop. If she doesn't have a non-APS email account, perhaps you should look into one.

Unfortunately email isn't the best way to reach people when you need to see a message quickly. If my HS students emails me, I may not see it for hours. And even if I do and email them back, there is NO way they will see it. How could they? They would have to keep going into their gmail - during class time - to see if I responded yet, and sift through the hundreds of spam emails they get from colleges.

Urgent notifications are what texts are for.

Why is it urgent? Lets say they told you that practice was canceled and needed a ride home. He will be out side waiting. What else is he going to do? AND he will have a phone. You got the message, so you will be there. Or someone else because you arranged a ride -- you can text him and he will see it end of day and find ride.

How old are you that you are so impatient with messages for no good reason?

Maybe you sit around all day with nothing to do but some of us need some advance notice if a pickup time changes.

If pickup time has been made earlier, your kid will wait or find another way home.
If it's a group activity that's been cancelled or lets out early, your kid can wait or have a system in place for them to contact someone else who can get to them faster or to catch a ride with a fellow student in the group.
If pickup time is later, seems like you would have time to arrange for that.

How can you be so sure my kid will find another way home? How will they do that exactly? ARe you volunteering? And maybe it's not a problem for YOU if my kid waits for hours to be picked up, but it's a problem for my kid and for me.

I empathize. It must be extremely difficult living your life unable to resolve challenges.

I feel for your kid, they clearly need some help learning how to use today's tech, and you are not the person to do it.

Your response makes no sense. Being interested in limited social media and focusing on education does not bear on tech readiness.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In a teacher who has posted about how I am really, really strict with this policy. It is a good policy and it benefits the kids in many ways. However, I have had a few one-off instances this year where a kid who is otherwise always on task, always present, never an issue about putting their phone away has called me over and said “Can I use my phone to text my mom, I started my period” or another quick but necessary message , and I have allowed it. Typically I ask them to just step out in the hall to send their message and then they come back in and replace the phone and we continue our class.

There are reasonable exceptions like this which is why I personally don’t like the idea of the locking pouches all day and I do think Youngkin is going to tip the balance from compliance when it truly matters (ie- in class) to a lack of broader support by prohibiting the phones during reasonable times like between class or at lunch. That being said, I can see why they think they might think that route is best since it in theory takes away the ability for the lazy teachers who just want the kids to think they’re cool to say “I don’t care if you keep them,” which some of them do. Inconsistent application of the policy is problematic.

I mean, getting your period unexpectedly sucks and being a teen in high school compounds that feeling, but I mean this has been going on for decades? It’s not like a new thing. How is your solution any different than excusing the student to go to the nurses office where she can make the exact same call (and actually get some tampons/pads instead of having to wait for mommy)? If she needs new clothes or to go home, the that too should be a done in the nurses office.

It just feels like every excuse to text mom is just that, and excuse. It’s too difficult to enforce who is doing what on their phones. I support a full ban and find of these “reasons” to use a phone to be lame and unhelpful. Kids need to deal with these issues like periods and scheduling. They will survive and be better for it.

I tend to agree. Still, I think the highlight of the post to be emphasized is the part about the exception being granted to the responsible student who is always there, doesn't break the rules, etc. Still, a slippery slope to be avoided - which it sounds like this particular teacher is quite capable of. Other teachers would be taken advantage of by even the "good" students.

Yes, when I say it’s a handful of one off instances I truly mean I could count on one hand who I’ve allowed it for and it is only for a) the good kids who have never been any issue and are diligent students who b) had a health related concern like that. Nobody else gets the phone any sooner than 2 minutes before the bell and even the kids I made an exception for for a valid reason didn’t keep the phone - they stepped out, made their quick call to mom, and put the phone away as soon as they returned. This to me is fine - it in no way compromises how strict I am with the policy the rest of the time and I’m not telling a girl who got her period while sitting in class no she can’t contact her mom, that’s nuts.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a real-life HS student (not a 3rd grader) at a school where phones are officially banned. Kids still use them sparingly and the teachers generally overlook it.

I got a quick text this morning (between classes) saying that an after-school activity is cancelled, which is helpful for me to receive now so I can rearrange my schedule to pick the kid up several hours earlier.

If kid told me this at 2:30 it'd be a huge PITA.

Are the nasty PPs really so unimaginative that they can't think of [i]any[/] scenarios when phones would be helpful? GMAFB.

Okay, I actually would be okay with kids having flip phones.

We can get Tello with 500 text a month for $5, a flip phone is like what $50? Maybe it would eh cheaper just to issue every student a school flip phone rather than pouch?

But that would probably be fine.

1 minute text on smart phone vs 1 minute text on flip phone. No difference.

I have a bridge to sell you if you all think that kids will limit their phone usage to “1-minute texts to parents.”

If they are shuffling between classes in a massive building there really isn’t that much time. You clearly don’t have HS kids in APS.

Anyway, some whiny poster was asking for “just one reason” why kids might need their phones between classes. I gave one.

I support teachers who want to ban phones in their classroom, but I’m glad that my kid’s teachers aren’t so rigid; they are ok with kids sending a text every now and then between classes.

Actually, I'm that person and I asked why it was so critical - not why they might use it.
To explain what I mean by critical: so essential that the need cannot be met by another means.

No one has found another mode that replaces it

No, nobody has found a mode that equals its efficiency or sufficiently replaces it to your satisfaction. It seems very fortunate for you that you have not had to be a parent (or apparently a kid, either) in the time before cell phones since you seem incapable of anything less quick or convenient. These may be difficult times for you until your kid(s) are no longer in a school with a phone ban. I hope you can take comfort knowing it won't be forever and that there are indeed ways to survive it.

I hope you take satisfaction in making my and many other kids and families lives a lot more difficult. For what?

For the overall betterment of everyone else. I'm sorry you're not more creative or resourceful and able to handle it better.

I'm sorry you're so irrationally triggered by cell phones.

I'm actually not triggered by cell phones at all. So don't worry about it.
I didn't create the policy. I didn't engage in advocating for the policy.
I'm just not constantly attached to my cell phone 24/7 and have not made my entire life utterly dependent upon it. You know what happens on the rare occasions my kid texts for an earlier-than-expected pick-up and I don't see the text right away because I'm not tethered to it? She calls me, I answer the phone, she waits a little while until I can get there to pick her up.

Funny how you claim you're not attached to your cell phone, but you've been on DCUM constantly.

I use a desktop. Did you not know you can access DCUM on a computer?
Plus, there are multiple posters here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At Yorktown they are allowed to use them in a quiet spot in the library. DD tells me she doesn’t have time during the day to go to said spot. So if she needs to get us a message I guess she does it while going to the bathroom.

But schedule changes happen all the time in high school. Something was cancelled today so I didn’t have to pick her up from school. She rode the bus. Nice to get that message so I didn’t have to rush to leave the office at 4 to pick her up.

She can email you. She has access to email from her laptop. If she doesn't have a non-APS email account, perhaps you should look into one.

Unfortunately email isn't the best way to reach people when you need to see a message quickly. If my HS students emails me, I may not see it for hours. And even if I do and email them back, there is NO way they will see it. How could they? They would have to keep going into their gmail - during class time - to see if I responded yet, and sift through the hundreds of spam emails they get from colleges.

Urgent notifications are what texts are for.

Why is it urgent? Lets say they told you that practice was canceled and needed a ride home. He will be out side waiting. What else is he going to do? AND he will have a phone. You got the message, so you will be there. Or someone else because you arranged a ride -- you can text him and he will see it end of day and find ride.

How old are you that you are so impatient with messages for no good reason?

Maybe you sit around all day with nothing to do but some of us need some advance notice if a pickup time changes.

If pickup time has been made earlier, your kid will wait or find another way home.
If it's a group activity that's been cancelled or lets out early, your kid can wait or have a system in place for them to contact someone else who can get to them faster or to catch a ride with a fellow student in the group.
If pickup time is later, seems like you would have time to arrange for that.

Or....let the kids make an occasional text between classes. All of these gymnastics to force something with no value.

+ 1. Wait until nasty poster's kid gets stuck at school for hours, I bet they will have something to say about that!

We live in Arlington. A high schooler can take a county bus from any of the high schools to about any neighborhood within an hour.

And they can take an ART bus for free.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a real-life HS student (not a 3rd grader) at a school where phones are officially banned. Kids still use them sparingly and the teachers generally overlook it.

I got a quick text this morning (between classes) saying that an after-school activity is cancelled, which is helpful for me to receive now so I can rearrange my schedule to pick the kid up several hours earlier.

If kid told me this at 2:30 it'd be a huge PITA.

Are the nasty PPs really so unimaginative that they can't think of [i]any[/] scenarios when phones would be helpful? GMAFB.

Okay, I actually would be okay with kids having flip phones.

We can get Tello with 500 text a month for $5, a flip phone is like what $50? Maybe it would eh cheaper just to issue every student a school flip phone rather than pouch?

But that would probably be fine.

1 minute text on smart phone vs 1 minute text on flip phone. No difference.

I have a bridge to sell you if you all think that kids will limit their phone usage to “1-minute texts to parents.”

If they are shuffling between classes in a massive building there really isn’t that much time. You clearly don’t have HS kids in APS.

Anyway, some whiny poster was asking for “just one reason” why kids might need their phones between classes. I gave one.

I support teachers who want to ban phones in their classroom, but I’m glad that my kid’s teachers aren’t so rigid; they are ok with kids sending a text every now and then between classes.

Actually, I'm that person and I asked why it was so critical - not why they might use it.
To explain what I mean by critical: so essential that the need cannot be met by another means.

No one has found another mode that replaces it

No, nobody has found a mode that equals its efficiency or sufficiently replaces it to your satisfaction. It seems very fortunate for you that you have not had to be a parent (or apparently a kid, either) in the time before cell phones since you seem incapable of anything less quick or convenient. These may be difficult times for you until your kid(s) are no longer in a school with a phone ban. I hope you can take comfort knowing it won't be forever and that there are indeed ways to survive it.

Here is the nasty poster.

Maybe you haven't heard but the policy is NOT a complete ban. Kids are allowed to have limited access, which is reasonable and fair. Suck it.

I know the policy - bell to bell with accommodation made for limited lunchtime access and exceptions for IEP accommodations. Apparently YHS has implemented a variation that allows access in a designated place in the library (as indicated by a previous comment in the thread). Since it is not a complete ban and is reasonable and fair, there shouldn't be any issues or complaints about it. Yet, here we are with so many of you complaining about usage being banned between classes.
I don't need to suck it. I am fine with the policy.

Not lunchtime - that is still TBD.

Kids get one freebie before getting in trouble. So the overall result is that kids will use phones a lot less (yay!), but there is some flexibility there/AKA kids can send a quick text between classes (yay!).

That's great you are fine with the policy that allows me and my kid to occasionally text during the day.